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Males and females of many species are often visibly different from one another. Scientists call these differences "sexual dimorphism" and it has been studied extensively by evolutionary biologists all the way back to Charles Darwin. But what is not yet clearly understood is how these differences impact an entire ecosystem.
Researchers recently published a paper suggesting that sexual dimorphism and the ratio of females to males in populations of western mosquitofish can shape the ecological impacts the invasive fish has on an ecosystem. The researchers found that female-dominated populations of mosquitofish have a greater ecological impact compared to males.Image credit: David C. Fryxell, UC - Santa Cruz
